I'm not a food critique, just a food lover and shares the joy with others out there....Please do note that taste is a matter of individual opinion and can differ from one to another. All views expressed here are purely based on my taste buds and preferences......

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Easy Cafe @ Tanjung Malim, Perak

Easy Cafe is one of those early cafe's to open up in Tanjung Malim. This cafe belongs to a schoolmate of mine and has been around for a number of years now. After Garden Seafood, this is one of those Chinese owned cafe's that has a Halal status and as such, their popularity has grown tremendously and is especially famous among the students of University Pendidikan Sultan Idris. I have been dining here ever since the day they started and the food is quite good and the prices reasonable. It is just that I have never blogged about them in the past but have done an entry on their sister restaurant called e Place which is just a few doors away. They specialise in Western cuisine as well as some simple Chinese dishes, all of which are Halal. Their sister restaurant specialises in Steamboat variety and that too, is a Halal restaurant. Since my Dad was in the mood for some British style Fish & Chips this evening, we decided to head here for dinner.

Easy Cafe Located In Taman Ketoyong Permai

Small Outdoor Seating Area

Air-Conditioned Restaurant

The Place Is Mostly Crowded

One Of The Partners

Crowded At Any Time OF The Day

We were here at around 9.00 pm and the place was crowded as usual. This restaurant is located in Taman Ketoyong Permai which is along the old trunk road heading North bound. It is very easy to locate this restaurant as it is along the road fronting row of shops. They have a small outdoor seating area for smokers and a larger indoor dining space which is air-conditioned. They would always have some entertainment running on the two TV screens in the restaurant and along with that, they provide high speed internet connection for customers' convenience. Ordering is generally handled by the owner's themselves and they are assisted by a number of staffs. The staffs generally handle the preparation of food and delivering them over to the respective tables. It is good that the owners have taken over the responsibility of taking the orders themselves as this leaves the other staffs to single mindedly focus on delivering the food items without a delay.

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

Contact Details

Their menu has a very good selection of dishes and they also cater for vegetarians. If you look at the bottom of their menu, you would be able to see indicators that mark their vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes. Prices are reasonable and definitely very cheap when compared to places like Kuala Lumpur. As we precisely knew what we wanted to order, we kept it brief and quick.

Cutlery

Drinking Water @ RM 0.30

Ipoh White Coffee @ RM 3.00

Within minutes, the cutlery and drinks were sent over to the table. My Dad had requested for a glass of water and this was priced at RM 0.30 per glass and my drink of Ipoh White Coffee was priced at RM 3.00 per cup. Well, I don't really want to fuss about that 30 cents charged for a glass of water as that has become a norms these days in cafe's like these. My White Coffee was very good. Really, a very nicely fixed cup of White Coffee it was. That was something that I enjoyed and I would rate that at 9/10 .

Garlic Bread @ RM 4.00

Two Long Buns

Comes With Garlic Butter Spread

We ordered a set of Garlic Bread and these were priced at RM 4.00 per set. Per set comes with two long buns which had been vertically cut and spread with Garlic Butter spread. The buns were hot when served, perhaps would have been microwaved for a minute or so to give it 'the feel' but that didn't really stand out. It was nowhere near the 'toasted' feel that a usual Garlic Bread would have. It would have been great if it was a horizontal cut instead. By doing these vertical cuts, the Garlic spread was limited to certain areas of the bun and there were many more areas which just tasted very much like an ordinary plain sweet bun. Not one that was to our liking as I sincerely feel that it had failed technically. I would rate this at 3/10 .

Fish & Chips @ RM 13.00

Fish & Chips @ RM 13.00

Fish & Chips @ RM 13.00

This dish came with a slice of deep fried battered Fish, some Green Peas, some French Fries and this was priced at RM 13.00 per set. When they first started a couple of years back, this very same dish was priced under RM 10.00 and then, they used to serve two slices of battered fish. Well I understand that prices have gone up everywhere and this shrinkage is acceptable. This was also served with a slice of lemon and some Tartar sauce on the side. The preparation was just awesome. The fish was perfectly fried and it was not at all oily. The rest of the preparation too were quite good. The accompanying Tartar sauce was perfect and the portion was overall very satisfying. I must say that this is the best Fish & Chips available in town and I would rate this at 9.3/10 .

Easy Cafe Chicken Chop @ RM 13.00

Well, this ain't really Chicken Chop but the guy told me before hand that they would be serving deep fried chicken. I was thinking that it's the Chicken Maryland or perhaps the Hainanese Style Chicken Chop that he was referring to. Perhaps it was my mistake to assume so. I do know that they have grilled chicken but that is called some other name here. Anyway, this came with some Fries and Salad along with Black Pepper Sauce on the sides.

Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken

This seemed more like a KFC Spicy Chicken that was served with Black Pepper Sauce. However one would like to protest this, I would strongly say that the name simply does not match the dish. Their Fried Chicken however tasted okay, luckily there wasn't much fat like those served in KFC. I would rate this Fried Chicken at 6.5/10 .

French Fries

The French Fries were nice and they were fried the way it should be. Not many may know that frying French Fries is actually an art and they had executed it out very well here. For the Fries, I would rate them at 8.5/10 .

Salad

Well, the Salad was nothing much to shout about but it was decent. It had a good mix of vegetables. I would rate this at 6/10 . Overall, I would say that this dish deserves a rating of 6.5/10 . But, once again I stress that I would not agree with the name. That should definitely be changed. It is as simple as this. Let's say I label it as French Fries on the menu and when I serve, I deliver some Potato Wedges. Well, they are both roughly the same but that does not make wedges to become French Fries, even if I would claim that it's my version of fries. Wedges is wedges and fries is fries. Just doesn't work that way as it's completely misleading.

Our Bill For The Evening

On the whole, our dining experience was satisfactory. The Fish & Chips were amazing and so was the Ipoh White Coffee. The so called 'Chicken Chop' was decent but the Garlic Bread was a failure. The prices however were very reasonable and the service was splendid. These are just some small mistakes which can be easily rectified. Overall, a great place!